Read More on this issue:
Fire engines under threat revealed (registrations & call signs),
quotes from fleet strategy document...
NZ Herald Gallery of NZPFU Articles...
Letter sent to Chief Fire Officers "Quashing the mis-information about
rural fire services being cynically circulated by some opposition politicians"
(25 February 2005) 
Northland Commander confirms government intimately involved in
Fleet Strategy Review
NZ Herald's Rod Emmerson: Fire Service reviewing fleet needs
Minister Gives Reassurance About NZFS
The Minister
Responsible for the Fire Service Commission, Mark Burton is
reassuring New Zealand communities that there is no agenda to reduce
appliance or service coverage in isolated rural stations, or
anywhere else. “On the contrary, work is being undertaken to ensure
that there is a comprehensive service delivery system, including,
for the first time, a nationwide fleet management plan” said Mark
Burton.
The New
Zealand Fire Service (NZFS) is in the process of developing a
planning tool which will allow it, for the first time, to examine
all resources nationally in order to develop an up to date service
delivery plan to best meet the needs of differing communities across
New Zealand. The national fleet management strategy will be one
facet of this much broader strategic plan.
As part of
this strategic planning the NZFS is currently examining delivery
targets for the major categories of incident the NZFS attends and
relating these to incident history and existing resources.
“The intended
outcome of all of this will be a modern fire and rescue service with
a much closer alignment between resource and need which ensures that
every community will receive at least an equal and preferably an
improved level of service.
“Indeed, I
have recently sought, and received, assurances from the Chair of the
Board of the New Zealand Fire Service Commission, Dame Margaret
Bazely and the national Fire Commander, that any proposed future
developments within the Service will provide equal or better risk
management in New Zealand communities” said Mark Burton.
“The fact is,
the NZFS existing standards of service delivery relate to fire only,
and are based on a now outdated UK model. “We require an
increasingly diverse range of capabilities from our fire service.
For example NZFS has to deliver a service that includes:
-
Motor vehicle accidents – extraction of victims, fire management,
road cleaning etc
-
General rescue situations such as industrial accidents, high angle
rescue, trench collapses etc.
-
Hazardous materials incidents both fixed and mobile
-
The provision of New Zealand’s three Urban Search and Rescue task
forces,
-
Medical assist and cardiac arrest calls (many appliances now carry
Automatic External Defibrillators)
-
A wide variety of civil defence situations caused by flooding and
high winds.
-
Calls of a general assistance nature for which the Fire Service has
an equipment, training and resource capacity.
It is
therefore important that the fire service manages all of its human
and physical resources within a modern management framework. It is
within this context that the NZFS, responsible for a fleet of over
800 vehicles, will for the first time bring these under one
management plan so that they can be replaced as necessary, and so
that every community can be assured that they will have the right
vehicles in the right places at the right time.
ENDS
Further Q
& A attached
Contact:
Jennie Darby, 04 471 9885, 021 375 056
Read More on this issue:
Fire engines under threat revealed (registrations & call signs),
quotes from fleet strategy document...
NZ Herald Gallery of NZPFU Articles...
Letter sent to Chief Fire Officers "Quashing the mis-information about
rural fire services being cynically circulated by some opposition politicians"
(25 February 2005)
Northland Commander confirms government intimately involved in
Fleet Strategy Review
NZ Herald's Rod Emmerson: Fire Service reviewing fleet needs
NZ Fire Service Commission
Q and A relating to the Fire Service
Fleet Management Strategy
Why is the Fire Service changing the way it plans and delivers
services?
The New
Zealand Fire Service (NZFS) now has a much wider role in New
Zealand’s emergency management framework.
This wider
role includes:
-
Motor vehicle
accidents – extraction of victims, fire management, road cleaning
etc
-
General rescue situations such as industrial accidents, high angle
rescue, trench collapses etc.
-
Hazardous materials incidents both fixed and mobile
-
The provision of New Zealand’s three Urban Search and Rescue task
forces,
-
Medical assist and cardiac arrest calls (many appliances now carry
Automatic External Defibrillators)
-
A wide variety of civil defence situations caused by flooding and
high winds.
-
Calls of a general assistance nature for which the Fire Service has
an equipment, training and resource capacity.
The NZFS’s
existing standards of service delivery relate to fire only and are
based on a UK model which is out of date.
The NZFS has
an annual budget of $300m with over 800 vehicles. It is important
that it manages it resources in a modern and professional way.
What is the fleet management strategy?
The fleet
management strategy is a subset of a much broader strategic plan to
develop a comprehensive service model.
The fleet
strategy will consist of:
-
A stocktake and evaluation of all vehicles in all stations
(volunteer and career)
-
A community risk assessment
-
A management plan to ensure that all communities have the
appropriate vehicles in place and that there is a plan to manage
maintenance and replacement.
What has been done so far?
Preliminary
work on listing (for the first time) all vehicles with an initial
assessment of their age, condition and suitability has been
undertaken.
Further work
will take place once the comprehensive service delivery model is
developed.
This is some
way off.
Will the vehicle mix in all locations always remain the same?
No.
It may be the
case in some locations that a need for new types of appliances and
equipment mix more closely matched to local requirements is
identified. Any such change would be the result of close discussion
with local stations and communities.
What about the documents tabled in Parliament by an Opposition
MP?
Previous
documents produced by the NZFS in respect of potential fleet
management directions are now obsolete and should be disregarded.
The documents
in question, now some months out of date, were openly discussed in
each Region by the Regional Operating Committee (ROC) comprising
representatives of the paid and volunteer arms of the Service.
In summary:
-
The new
planning model for the NZ Fire Service is in its early stages of
development
-
It will determine priorities for training, personnel and equipment
including replacement of aging vehicle stock
-
It will ensure that the right vehicles are in the right places and
given replacement order of priority
-
It is designed to ensure the best possible service across NZ
communities.
Read More on this issue:
Fire engines under
threat revealed (registrations & call signs),
quotes from fleet strategy document...
NZ Herald Gallery of NZPFU Articles...
Letter sent to Chief Fire Officers "Quashing the mis-information
about
rural fire services being cynically circulated by some opposition
politicians"
(25 February 2005)
Northland Commander confirms government intimately involved in
Fleet Strategy Review
NZ Herald's Rod Emmerson: Fire Service reviewing fleet needs
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